If you’re looking for ASX shares to buy and hold, then you may want to consider the two listed below.

Both have been named as buys and tipped for big things in the future. Here’s what analysts are saying:

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)

The first ASX share to look at is Altium. It is the technology company behind the Altium 365 and Altium Designer electronic design platforms, the Nexus collaboration platform, and the Octopart parts search engine.

This portfolio of businesses have positioned Altium perfectly to profit from the increasing demand for electronic design and related software due to the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) and AI markets.

Bell Potter is a fan of Altium and believes it is well-placed for growth in the coming years. So much so, it has forecast net profit to more than double between FY 2021 and FY 2024 from $47 million to $105 million.

The broker has a buy rating and $41.25 price target on the company’s shares.

Lovisa Holdings Limited (ASX: LOV)

Another ASX share that could be a top buy and hold option is Lovisa. It has already been growing at a solid rate for a number of years but appears well-placed to continue this trend long into the future.

This is due to the company’s strong brand and bold global expansion plans.

The team at Morgans is very positive on Lovisa’s outlook and believe it “could prove to be one of the biggest success stories in Australian retail.”

The broker added: “With ambitious (and financially well-incentivised) new leadership in place, we think now is the time LOV steps up to become a global force. Investment will be needed to expand LOV’s network in the US and Europe and to take it into new markets, but the returns could be stellar.”

Morgans has an add rating and $24.00 price target on its shares.

The post 2 excellent ASX shares to buy and hold for a decade appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Have ASX tech shares finally reached the bottom?
• The Altium share price has tumbled 27% in 2022, so what does this make the current dividend yield?
• Brokers name 2 ASX shares to buy after the tech selloff
• Here are 2 fantastic ASX growth shares analysts rate as buys
• 3 ASX shares analysts believe have enormous growth potential

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Altium. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Lovisa Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Looking for growth shares to buy in May? Well, here’s some good news! Listed below are two growth shares that have recently been named as buys with major upside potential.

Here’s what you need to know about them:

Allkem Limited (ASX: AKE)

Allkem could be a growth share to buy in May. It is the top five global lithium mining company that was created with the merger of Galaxy Resources and Orocobre.

The company owns a collection of high-quality assets including Olaroz, Mt Cattlin, and the Sal de Vida brine project. This gives Allkem geographic diversity and also lithium type diversity.

Unlike the many explorers on the Australian share market that are some way off producing lithium, Allkem is already shipping it in large quantities. This is allowing the company to benefit from the sky high lithium prices being underpinned by the clean energy transition and the rapid adoption of electric vehicles.

Morgans is a big fan of Allkem and has an add rating and $16.98 price target on its shares. Based on the current Allkem share price, this implies potential upside of over 40%.

Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)

Another ASX growth share that has been tipped as a buy is Xero.

It is a leading cloud-based business and accounting software provider which had over 3 million subscribers globally at the last count.

As you may have noticed in 2022, tech shares are not performing very positively. And Xero is certainly no exception, with its shares down 38% since the start of the year.

While this is disappointing, it could be a buying opportunity for long term focused investors. In fact, Goldman Sachs believes Xero is a “compelling global growth story” and has recently reiterated its buy rating on its shares with a $133.00 price target.

Based on the current Xero share price, this implies potential upside of almost 48%.

The post Analysts rate these ASX growth shares as buys in May appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why are ASX tech shares having such a dire run on Monday?
• Why is the Xero share price sinking 6% today?
• 2 ASX lithium shares to buy in May 2022: brokers
• Here’s why ASX 200 tech shares are having such a stellar end to the week
• Why the Xero share price is a buy right now: experts

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in Allkem Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Xero. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Those that believe that COVID-19 is yesterday’s news should look at the Biotron Limited (ASX: BIT) share price today.

Shares in the small cap biotech jumped 37.5% to 9.9 cents each after reporting positive COVID-19 animal trial results today.

The company said that its lead clinical drug BIT225 protected mice that have SARS-CoV-2 from severe disease.

Bitotron share price jumps on more challenging test results

This test was trickier than an earlier one the company conducted. In the latest test, the mice were infected by SARS-CoV-2 up to 48 hours before being treated with BIT225.

In the earlier study, the mice were given BIT225 12 hours before being infected by SARS-CoV-2.

The second trial was more challenging as it had a higher hurdle to demonstrate the efficacy of the drug, according to Bitotron.

Why this animal trial matters

“The results are important as they provide key information that will assist in determining the dosing regimen for BIT225 in planned human clinical studies,” said the company in its ASX statement.

“The results further extend the robust in vivo data package that shows statistically and clinically significant efficacy of BIT225 in both treatment and prevention in murine models of COVID-19.”

Biotron’s management believes the effectiveness of BIT225 to treat and prevent severe cases of the highly contagious disease sets it apart from other treatments.

In fact, Biotron claims that this characteristic is a requirement for successful product development in this therapeutic area.

Details of Biotron’s latest mice trial

In all studies, BIT225 was tested in a human-adapted COVID-19 mouse model (K18-hACE2) that is routinely used to assess the ability of drugs to target SARS-CoV-2 and treat COVID-19 disease.

There were five mice in each of the pre-dose and post-dose groups. There was also a control group with the same number of mice.

In the groups that were treated with BIT225, all but one remained healthy and continued to gain weight as per age expectations through to Day 12 when the study was terminated. One of the five mice in the post-dose group died on Day 11 of the trial.

In the control group made up of untreated mice, all lost weight and died by day eight of the study. The company noted that there was less weight gain if BIT225 treatment was delayed. But the trend lines are statistically similar regardless of when the drug was used.

Next catalyst for the Biotron share price

BIT225 was tested in a human-adapted COVID-19 mouse model (K18-hACE2) that is routinely used to assess the ability of drugs to target SARS-CoV-2 and treat COVID-19 disease.

Bitotron has submitted a proposal to the US Food and Drug Administration to conduct a human clinical trial to assess the efficacy of BIT225 for the treatment of COVID-19.

The application was made under the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program and Biotron’s management is expecting a response soon.

The post Biotron share price rockets 38% on COVID trial results appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• The CBA share price was the worst performer of the ASX 200 big banks in April. What happened?
• Worried about inflation? Here’s what Warren Buffett says Berkshire Hathaway is doing
• The top 2 cryptos of April unmasked
• Own ANZ shares? Here’s what to expect from the bank’s half-year results
• Why is the Webjet share price beating the ASX 200 today?

Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) didn’t have a great month in April. Last month saw the flagship index go backwards by about 0.86%, not including the nasty falls we have seen today. But it was an even bleaker month for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price. April saw CBA shares fall from $105.77 a share to $103.88, a fall of 1.8% or so, more than twice the fall of the ASX 200.

But what might stick even deeper in CBA investors’ craw is that CBA was the worst-performing ASX 200 big four bank share. CBA investors have long enjoyed the bank’s reputation as the best performing ASX bank share. But that was certainly not the case last month.

Take the National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price. NAB shares ended April in the green with a rise of 0.87%. Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares didn’t do quite as well as that, but fell less than CBA did. It was a similar story with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ).

So after a period of topping out the ASX bank sector, what went wrong with CBA shares last month?

Why was the CBA share price sold in April?

One possible explanation for this scenario comes from reporting in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) today. The report quoted analysis from investment bank and broker JP Morgan. JP Morgan noted that NAB is currently the “only big four bank stock that domestic fund managers have a ‘well held’ position in”. This, the broker suggests, might mean that “investors have less conviction in the other three majors, which rank as ‘underheld’”.

“This cooling on the banks follows a period of particularly strong performance, with the sector outperforming the ASX 200 and MSCI World Banks in the year-to-date,” the report quotes JP Morgan’s Jason Steed.

But many ASX brokers have been warning about possible falls in the value of the CBA share price for a while now. Just this week, broker Morgans has retained a ‘reduce’ rating on CBA shares. That came with a 12-month share price target of just $77. Part of Morgans’ pessimism on CBA shares is the view that they are overvalued at current levels.

So if the various commentary on CBA is to be believed, perhaps the bank might have a few more months of disappointing performance in front of it yet. But we shall have to wait and see what happens.

At the current CBA share price, this ASX 200 bank share has a market capitalisation of $175.33 billion. That comes with a dividend yield of 3.65%.

The post The CBA share price was the worst performer of the ASX 200 big banks in April. What happened? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why is the Webjet share price beating the ASX 200 today?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Monday
• Can ASX 200 banks live up to the $11 billion ‘big expectation’ when they report this month?
• Why are ASX tech shares having such a dire run on Monday?
• The Pilbara Minerals share price just dropped 6%. Time to pounce?

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in JPMorgan Chase and National Australia Bank Limited. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Westpac Banking Corporation. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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